Our students and staff compose, produce, perform, research and write about music in a collaborative and inclusive community. Through music, we aim to create a better, more sustainable world. We work with communities in Southampton and worldwide.
82%
of our research is world-leading or recognised internationally
The University of Southampton’s music department is a centre of exceptional research and teaching in musicology, ethnomusicology, performance, composition, music technology, music education and music business. We offer sector-leading courses at undergraduate, postgraduate taught and PhD levels.
Our students and staff are positive and proactive members of their diverse musical communities, both here in Southampton and around the world.
We work with partners such as the Darmstadt Summer Course, Verdi Festival Parma, the Alan Turing Institute, the National Trust, the London Sinfonietta and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. We also collaborate with organisations in our local community such as the Turner Sims concert hall and OperaUpClose.
An orchestral performance at Turner Sims concert hall, on Highfield Campus.
Performance
Inclusivity, creativity and exploration drive performance culture at Southampton. We promote and support all genres equally.
Our students and staff perform many kinds of music, such as:
early music
jazz
musical theatre
opera
piano music
rock, pop, blues and folk
As an academic performance community with a long tradition of practice-based research, we strive for openness, innovation and curiosity when we make music together. We curate numerous performances in venues large and small, including our own Turner Sims concert hall.
Over 40 staff teach performance on our degree programmes. They play in professional orchestras, perform internationally with pop stars and leading opera singers, consult and perform at major festivals, appear on notable recordings and are frequently nominated for prestigious awards.
Watch our performance playlist
Learn more about music performance at Southampton with our wide-ranging YouTube playlist.
Composition and music production
We are proud of the stylistic breadth and diversity of our composition staff.
They work in a wide range of creative fields, including:
jazz composition
electronic dance music
film, TV and video game scores
experimental concert pieces
multimedia work
performance art
multi-modal sound installations
pop opera
music theatre for children
We engage with music technology and innovate approaches to sound design across diverse areas, including:
environmental location recording
live electronics
user-interface design
musical information retrieval
sonification
low-memory synthesisers
artificial intelligence
machine learning in digital music making
Our studios and production rooms use industry-standard hardware and software, providing creative workspaces for staff and students to realise complex, professional audio projects.
Music scholarship
Southampton has long been considered one of Europe's leading centres for music research.
Our specialisms include:
gender, sexuality and queer studies
music education
global music histories
musical institutions
reception
sound studies
music and technology
opera and musical theatre
cultural economics
music analysis
critical organology
global popular music
Inclusivity, fairness and sustainability matter deeply to us as researchers, critics and activists.
Social justice and EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion)
We seek to nurture undergraduate and postgraduate work on music and social justice in the classroom and our communities.
Our mission is to bring together music practitioners and local, national, and international partners to engage in conversations about social justice and work towards the alleviation of inequality, powerlessness and discrimination.
Through events such as talks, interactive concerts and workshops we support research that engages with music education from practical, pedagogical, therapeutic, theoretical and historical perspectives.
We seek to nurture undergraduate and postgraduate work on music and social justice in the classroom and our communities. Our students participate in community projects, and put their learning into action in music therapy, community music and music education modules.
I am proud to lead such a diverse and wide-ranging department, where performance, composition and scholarship make new and sustainable musical worlds every day.
I explore music's role in healthcare and inclusive education, collaborating with different partners to build community music initiatives and promote civic engagement.
Jobs at Southampton
Work with us
Find out about job opportunities in the Department of Music and the wider University.
Social justice and EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion)
We are home to the Centre for Music Education and Social Justice. We are committed to the study of, and advocacy for, equality in music education.
We seek to nurture undergraduate and postgraduate work on music and social justice in the classroom and our communities.
Our mission is to bring together music practitioners and local, national, and international partners to engage in conversations about social justice and work towards the alleviation of inequality, powerlessness and discrimination.
Through events such as talks, interactive concerts and workshops we support research that engages with music education from practical, pedagogical, therapeutic, theoretical and historical perspectives.
We seek to nurture undergraduate and postgraduate work on music and social justice in the classroom and our communities. Our students participate in community projects, and put their learning into action in music therapy, community music and music education modules.